


This Last Goodbye

by FollowTheFirefly



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Other, companion to Lightning Strike, post memory sequence eleven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowTheFirefly/pseuds/FollowTheFirefly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Edward visits Mary's grave before leaving for England.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Last Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of things about this one. I wrote this one after finishing Lightning Strike, so that's where my mind was. That being said, you really don't need to read Lightning Strike to read this one, but it explains my way of thinking of a few things.
> 
> I got the idea for the title from a line from "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd from the last Hobbit movie. I felt a bit of the lyrics fit in well with Black Flag and thought it was appropriate to use.
> 
> I had planned this on being a Kiddway fic, but decided not to make it one. That's not to say that it can't be interpreted as one, though.
> 
> Lastly, I listened to "Pirate Love Song- Black Heart" by BrunuhVille while writing this. That being said, I was tearing up a little bit, so proceed with caution if you decide to listen to it while you read.

“But where are you going, Father? What’s so important that you need to get off the boat?” 

Edward sighed as he slid his hands off the ship’s wheel. There was just no easy way for him to tell her why they were in Tulum. No easy way for him, at least. Still, he knew that she deserved an answer and she was clearly expecting an honest one, judging from the way that she was looking at him.

“It’s a ship, Jenny,” he gently corrected her. “And I’m just saying goodbye to a friend before we set sail.”

“They won’t be coming back with us?” Jenny asked, absentmindedly playing with the lace on her dress. 

Edward shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not.”

“Oh,” was all she said in response, looking perplexed by her father’s strange behavior.

“I won’t be but a moment,” Edward said, walking away from the helm and down the steps. “Send Parker after me if there’s trouble. He’ll know where to find me.”

“Hurry back,” Jenny wished him luck as he jumped off the ship and landed on the soft sand on the island.

Once he was safely on his feet, Edward took a moment to look at the scenery around him. All of the trees and lush vegetation brought back a flood of memories. Some of them good, some bad and many involving her, but Edward had to admit that he had missed seeing the place that had changed his life in so many ways.

And it was hard for him to not think of her as he traversed the beach, the white sand sinking beneath his feet. His first visit to Tulum had been at her request, though he’d stirred up quite a bit of trouble, to say the least. Now that everything was said and done, he realized that it really wasn’t a bad place after all. 

Soon enough, Edward found his feet guiding him while his mind wandered and his eyes were transfixed on the jungle in front of him. Part of him wanted to erase every memory he had of this place, the good with the bad. Yet he knew that he needed to remember not only for her sake, but for the sake of the men and women who had sacrificed their lives here, mostly at his fault.

“Where is everyone?” he found himself asking to no one in particular.

He stopped, eyes scanning the jungle for any sign of life. Ah Tabai had mentioned moving the Assassins to a new location, but Edward hadn’t expected them to move this quickly. 

As his mind wandered, Edward found that he’d been walking faster than he anticipated and realized that he wasn’t far from his destination. He knew what he was looking for, so he knew it shouldn’t be a problem finding it, assuming that the natural jungle wildlife hadn’t destroyed it.

All too soon, Edward found what he was looking for: a grouping of ferns surrounded by a small circle of stones.

Her grave marker.

“Found you,” Edward said softly as he walked towards the circle. “As if I could forget where they buried you, Mary.”

He sat down on the grass, crossing his legs, and stared straight at the little fern plants. Ah Tabai had insisted on planting something on her grave, thinking it an appropriate touch to add to a final resting place.

“You know, I still can’t figure out why he wanted to plant these here, of all things,” Edward shrugged. “I never got the impression that you liked plants all that much.”

It was harder than he had thought, this saying goodbye thing. Sure, it had been hard when he left Anne and Adéwalé and the rest, but Mary had meant something different to him. Something that they could never be.

“I know I’m beating around the bush with this. And I’m sure you could figure that out as soon as I got here,” Edward said. “To be honest, I really don’t want to have to do this because this is the first time I’ve seen you since…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it. He still had dreams about being in that dark prison in Kingston, about the night he and Ah Tabai broke Anne and Mary out, and about the night that Mary died. Quite honestly, it was the last thing he wanted to think about, but he knew he couldn’t forget if he tried.

“But there actually is a purpose to all this,” he went on, knowing that he might as well get to it. “I’m going back to England with my daughter.”

And it was as if she was still alive and standing in front of him. He knew exactly what her expression would be, how her voice would sound if she could vocalize her feelings and asking him why he never mentioned his daughter before this.

“I know, I can’t believe it either. Caroline never told me about her,” Edward went on to say. “But just as all this mess came to an end, I got word of her existence and she sailed down here.” He paused for a moment before saying, “She looks a lot like Caroline.”

It wasn’t really what he wanted to talk about, but he liked to think that Mary wouldn’t have minded. She had asked Edward about her once or twice in passing, at least.

“She’s waiting for me back on the ship. She wanted to know if you’d be sailing back with us to England and honestly, I’m not sure what to tell her about all of this.” Edward continued, his fingers anxiously fumbling the straps on his boots. “How am I meant to tell her that all of my friends are dead?”

He was about to go on when he heard the unmistakable sound of thunder rolling across Tulum. Looking up, he saw the sky darkening far too quickly for his liking. He hadn’t expected any rain when they docked the ship, but clearly the weather had other plans for the day.

“Looks like a storm. But you never liked lightning, did you?” He remembered a particular occasion where Mary had hidden in the cabin of the Jackdaw during a hurricane. “I’d planned on making this a quick goodbye for both our sakes, but I think I’ll stick around a bit longer.” A clap of thunder boomed overhead and once it settled down, Edward added, “I don’t like the idea of leaving you in a storm like this.”

As he was speaking, Edward heard sounds of rustling leaves from the jungle behind him. Thinking it to be a wild animal, he’d thought nothing of it, but now it was a bit closer than Edward liked them to be. Slowly, he stood up, pulling a pistol from his holster and pointed it at the jungle in the direction of the noise. He was quite surprised to see Jenny tumbling out of the foliage moments later, looking quite alarmed to see her father pointing a gun at her.

“What’s that for?” she demanded crossly, pulling twigs from her hair in an annoyed manner.

“Jenny?” Edward was confused as to why she was off the ship. “What’s happened? Are you all right?”

“Parker said I should find you,” Jenny scowled as she plucked the last bit of jungle debris out of her hair and tossed it to the ground. She covered her eyes from a particularly bright flash of lightning and said, “He said there’s a storm coming.”

“There is, but I was going to stay here,” Edward told her, putting the pistol back in the holster as rain started to fall from the sky. “And why didn’t you use the path?” 

“Path?” Jenny clearly hadn’t noticed the dirt path leading to where they were standing. She looked down and after a second, she said, “Oh, that path.”

“I take it you didn’t notice it?” Edward had to smile a bit at that. 

Jenny looked at her surroundings and said, “But what are you doing here, Father? I thought you were visiting a friend?” 

“I am, “ Edward said gently, leading her back to the patch of ferns and sitting down again. “This is where she was buried.”

“Oh,” Clearly this wasn’t what Jenny had expected to hear, but she nodded and sat down next to her father. “So who is she?”

“Jenny, this is Mary. She’s a good friend of mine,” Edward said, just as if Mary was standing in front of them.

“Have you been talking to her?” Jenny asked, her eyes still on the small grave in front of her. 

“Is there something wrong with that?” He wasn’t angry with her asking, but Edward had to wonder why a child would ask him such a question.

“Mother would sometimes talk to you while you were gone,” Jenny explained as the rain started to come down a bit harder. She waited until after a particularly loud bit of thunder had settled down before she asked, “Is it something like that?”

“Close, but not quite,” Edward took off his jacket and draped it around Jenny’s small shoulders in an attempt to shield her from the rain.

“So why are you still out in the rain, Father?” Jenny questioned on. “It’s getting quite wet out here.”

It only took Edward a few seconds to come up with a reply.

“I just didn’t want to leave her in the rain.”


End file.
